Author Archives: lifelessons

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About lifelessons

My blog, which started out to be about overcoming grief, quickly grew into a blog about celebrating life. I post daily: poems, photographs, essays or stories. I've lived in countries all around the globe but have finally come to rest in Mexico, where I've lived since 2001. My books may be found on Amazon in Kindle and print format, my art in local Ajijic galleries. Hope to see you at my blog.

A Bah Humbug Primer: For the Sunday Whirl Wordle #634

A Bah Humbug Primer

If a White Christmas isn’t your “thing,”
If popcorn is something you eat but don’t string
into chains for the tree, and if twinkling lights
and tinsel and candy canes are dreaded sights,
if you are weary of seasonal cheer,
lest a stray chorus should fall on your ear
of “White Christmas” or “Jingle Bells,” close tight your door,
seal up your window, or you’ll hear more
joyous renditions you feel you’ve heard
over and over until they’re absurd.

If you grow feverish thinking of shopping,
then break out in chills—back and forth, without stopping,
then put on the skids or else you might pop.
Don’t make me send over the Bah Humbug Cop!
With unwavering calm, put dreams into action,
lest you commit  a Yuletide infraction.

There’s no law that says that you have to do
holidays that you happen to rue.
Hop a bus, then a plane. Find a tropical isle.
Take off to Arabia. Sail up the Nile.
There are plenty of spots without holly and snow—
places where Santa Claus dares not to go.

Just because some of us love our tradition,
doesn’t mean you will be tried for sedition
if you neglect to put up a tree.
So perk up your ears and listen to me.

There is a truth that everyone knows.
The best gifts of all don’t come tied up in bows.
Friends we can trust and friends we hold dear
We celebrate every day of the year!!!

The Sundaywhirl prompt words today are: dream white joyous twinkle waver chains stray chorus might chill feverish sight

It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Click on photos to enlarge.

Poinsettias: For FOTD Dec. 24, 2023

This is the beautiful poinsettia plant that Yolanda and Yoli and Emi and Santiago brought to me on Friday.

For Cee’s FOTD

Sealed Windows: Weekend Writing Prompt #343

 

Sealed Windows

These windows do not open, but keep me trapped inside
with no hope of escaping, so in full view, I hide.
Seen by every passerby but never touched by one.
For all the beauty trapped inside, there’s not a gram of fun.

Sterile empty paintings. An airless motionless room.
No other person enters to chase away the gloom.
As I look out, observing the drama of the world,
I hold my drama in my mind, where it’s securely curled.

 

 

For the Weekend Writing prompt #343 : Window (exactly 79 words)

So, What happened in 1947? For the Daily Prompt

Click on Photos to Enlarge.

I was born on July 3, 1947, as was Dave Barry,  nationally syndicated humor columnist for the Miami Herald. As our parents adjusted to our births, UFO crashes were being reported in Roswell, N.M., the Israeli War of Independence was raging on, Jackie Robinson was breaking  Major League Baseball’s “color line”  by donning a Brooklyn Dodgers Uniform, India won its independence creating India, Pakistan and East Pakistan, Communists were excluded from the governments of Italy and France, leading to the beginning of the Cold War,  the Fort Lauderdale Hurricane decimated southeastern Florida as well as parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, and the “Great Fires of 1947” wreaked havoc in the state of Maine, burning over 200,000 acres and killing 16 people. All-in-all, a busy year!

For the Daily Prompt: Share all you know about the year you were born. 

Canna Lily for FOTD Dec 23, 2023

For Cee’s FOTD

Iris: For Cee’s FOTD Dec 22, 2023

 

For Cee’s FOTD

Kristina’s 28th Birthday ;o)

Click on photos to enlarge.

Yes, it was open-air and cold. Yes, the music was TOO LOUD!!! And Yes, it was fun.  (And no. Not really 28. It’s an in-joke.)

Xmas Traditions Explained (For Fibbing Friday Dec 22, 2023)

                                                          Leave Santa alone, Kids. He’s exhausted!!

1. Ever wondered why they call them Christmas Carols? Because Bob was already associated with bobbing for apples on Halloween, Ted was busy spreading hay for the manger and Alice was busy looking at herself in the looking glass. ( Confused? See “Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice”)

2. Why do we put a fairy on top of the Christmas Tree? We didn’t. It just kept flying up there.

3. Are St Nicholas and Old Nick the Jekyll and Hyde of Christmas? No. Old Nick is just the natural result of St. Nick’s exposure to so much carbon chimney buildup and air travel over the centuries.

4. Why do we traditionally kiss under the mistletoe? The practice started because approximately 1/2 of the world’s population is actually allergic to mistletoe and the other 1/2 needs to give them artificial respiration therapy.

5. Why is it Christmas lights work when we put them away but don’t when we take them out the following year? Because you have to remember to unplug them before putting them away!!!!

6. Why are pigs in blankets so called? Because they are cold and this is a natural response to chillbains..

7. Should we have cream or custard on mince pies? Yes.

8. How did a Christmas Stocking originate? When Santa heard there was much mischief afoot during the year and decided he needed a method of bribery to put an end to it.

9. Do you like the idea of a white Christmas?  Well, yes. Much more than its actuality.

10. Have you been naughty or nice? Yes. You can guess which.

Red-faced.The Devil made me do it.

For Fibbing Friday

Sneaky Santas

My neighbors David and Sergio leave tomorrow to spend Xmas with their families in Los Angeles, but today they brought me over this gorgeously wrapped gift:

Imagine my surprise, however, when I removed the wrappings to find this perfectly ordinary brown cup:

This is the couple whose outrageously beautiful Xmas decorations I showed last year. There is not an ordinary object in their house!  Ha. A gag gift, for sure.  Then Sergio insisted I make a cup of coffee and pour it into the cup and voilá!  This transformation occurred:

Remember when they gave me the Cheetos Torciditos beach towel last Xmas? They will stop at nothing to support my mania for this incredible snack.  Sorry, though, not available outside of Mexico.  Suffice it to say, however, that I have never served them to a single person who didn’t become an immediate addict.  David and Sergio are even taking two large bags of them with them to the U.S.  Add a glass of my Sangria alongside and perfection is served!!!

Touché, guys. You have again won the Xmas gift prize.

But sadly, as I drank the cup of coffee, this happened:

And, once I’d sipped the dregs from the cup:

How to stop the Cheetos from disappearing? Perhaps this is the solution:

But it is going to take some willpower to enact this plan!!!